Many Are Cold, but Few Are Frozen

Russian President Dimitry Medvedev visited Ulaanbaatar today. To make sure we all knew it, police stood every 10 meters along the main road, and then shut down all traffic. For about half an hour, we couldn't move. Every secret route I knew was blocked off.

I parked the car and walked up to the road. A policeman shooed me off the sidewalk. There was nothing to do but wait and wait and wait, until finally, a police car led the official Russian procession down the street. It was longer than a 4th of July parade.

Later in the day, we got caught up in the blockade again. Fortunately, we were leaving the city center, so it wasn't too bad. But the people going the other way weren't so lucky.

Apparently, Russia is still powerful enough to completely freeze traffic in another country.